Question for IT guys

[2B4Him]

At our storage facility, we have a Dell Inspiron 2400 running the management software, gate access system, etc. (Yes, I know it is old, but why update/spend money when it is doing all it asked to do?).
For a few weeks now, my manager has said that every once in a while the screen would go completely white and she couldn't do anything to 'bring it back'. It would usually resume in two or three minutes.
Well, last Friday, it went white and wouldn't come out of it, even when powering off the PC and restarting. (It would occasionally resume, but unpredictably.)
Figuring it to be related to the graphics interface (integrated on this model), I put in a new graphics card.
Everything seemed fine after that.
Until yesterday, when my manager told me that the screen went 'white' again for a few minutes. It is running fine right now.
Any thoughts on what this could be or what steps to take?

[black42]

replace the system... its going to die soon. Get a good backup of it.

[cshall999]

If you have another monitor try hooking that to it and see if it is the monitor going out on you.

[Redneck Archer]

If you have another monitor try hooking that to it and see if it is the monitor going out on you.

thought the same thing.

a good backup would be a good immediate idea though if you dont have one!

[cshall999]

Yes, on a system like that, there should always be a cold backup.

[Tommyh]

You should also check the cabling from the cameras to the control center, or the camera them selves. if you have an identical notebook, swap the drive over and see if it does it in that one. Does the video go white without the monitoring software running, or is the system web based for viewing? Incidentally, running this type of system on a notebook isnt the best business practice, and i would definitely try to push for something more robust.

[Stros]

Solar Flares

[Redneck Archer]

When its "white" try remoting into it, and see if its still functioning... run a constant ping to the IP address (-t switch) and see if it ever drops when it "goes white"...

just givin ya some ideas to help you trouble shoot if you are not able to be there to switch out monitors.

[TXBlueEyes]

Is this a stand alone machine or is it networked with other computers? My first thought would be to switch the monitor then what Redneck Archer said.

[blacksunshine]

it is probably the cpu fan out or not keeping the thing cool....

typically you can nail this down by when it goes white, can you shut it down and will it turn right back on...if it won't but waiting a couple minutes and it will, tells the tale...

the monitor trick and the ping would also give you good info, but honestly, I would not worry about it and just replace the thing ASAP

There are plenty, plenty of cheap, hard core/never die dell desktops/towers out there....I can tell you already have spent more time/money on this than what it would cost to just replace it....

[dhaddox]

Did you disable th eonboard in the bios?

[blacksunshine]

is this an inspiron or a dimension?

[blacksunshine]

also try reseating the memory...ie, take it out and put it back in several times....

[2B4Him]

It is a Dimension, not Inspiron. My bad.
Stand alone PC.
I did disable the integrated graphics interface when installing the new graphics card.

[blacksunshine]

you don't typically need to as most dells (if not all) will default to the add on card.

since it was doing the same thing with two cards...it ain't the card...well, could be but not likely...

turn it off and reseat the memory, make sure the cpu fan is spinning, clear the heatsink of dustwads and clear the power supply venting of dustwads, try again...